Let's Talk About Freedom
by Bluejay141519
Summary: I shot Clay Spenser in this, and really that's all you need to know.


**When in doubt - shoot them. _Shoot them all. (aka I wanted to whump them and couldn't think of anything so i fell back on this old adage)_**

* * *

The house has been long cleared. The main objective of their mission is nearly fulfilled, no one was hurt, Trent and Brock and Cerberus were making exfil with the man they were sent to capture.

Of course that was never the end of it.

In the effort to exit, it seems someone who was watching the little concrete house called in the exact group of people they were trying very hard to evoid, and the remaining members of bravo team were holed up in single story house, spread out to cover the windows and exits, having scrambled there when gun fire suddenly ripped through the street, mere seconds after Toc notified them of incoming.

It's been a long day, to be honest - or long night really. They come back from a mission only to be sat in the briefing room with a few bottles of water and briefed on another. A daylight raid, that had them leaving an hour after they had landed.

And apparently, (this is why Jason despises most officers and generals of any kind) someone higher up decided that having a SEAL team kidnap a well known member of the taliban in broad daylight wasn't dangerous enough, so their exfil was basically them running through the half deserted city to a small clearing where the helos could land.

The second Hayes gets more than two hours of sleep he's having a word or ten with blackburn. Their job is dangerous enough. He doesn't appreciate in any way shape or form the ridiculous amount of added exposure and vulnerability that they are forced to add. It's one thing to know the guy they nabbed hasn't shown his face in six years and this was the only time they could confirm his exact location.

But one would think, that if command wanted the asshat _alive_ , they wouldn't make Bravo team run him across the city infested with people who are under orders to kill the guy should he be captured.

Well. _Surprise_.

"Everybody good?" He yells when the first barrage of bullets stop flying. Hayes has his gun trained on their exit, and waits with a patient calm for the affirmations to come from his team before moving.

Except they don't come. Not from all of them anyway.

Theres two confirmations from Ray and Sonny, but when nothing comes from Clay, Hayes is bringing his line of sight over to the newest member. Spencer is still at his post, gun pointed out the hip height window, but only one hand is on the rifle, the other is pawing at the side of his chest. He's keeping an eye through his scope, but the man is clearly sagging against the wall, and he keeps dropping his head for a split second, clearly trying to see the wound, before bringing his eyes back up to look out the window.

Dread floods Hayes at the sight. They're about to get hit with a lot of heavy fire, and if Clay is hit, then the already narrow exfil is going to become a lot harder to achieve.

"Boss, I'm- I can't I-"

"I got contact!" Ray yells, cutting off Clays stammer.

"Clay-" Sonny starts to say something, what, he doesn't know, but he knows they're out of time, and so does Clay.

"I can't see it, we have to move!" Clay yells back, and while Jason's stomach rolls with fear, he's been in this position before, and he knows the sooner they get out of here the sooner he can look at his rookie.

"Fuckin hell kid-"

"Let's go!" Jason barks, and the team of four drop back right as bullets start flying towards the house. They move swiftly, working through the house and exiting faster than they came in, but no one misses the way Clay stumbles and heaves himself out of the building. They stop for a single second outside, Sonny clearing the street, Ray covering their backs, Jason gripping the back of Clays tac vest and he leans over and pukes blood. His worry redoubles and his heart rate skyrockets, but again there's nothing he can do in the moment to help him except steady him to keep him on his feet.

"We need to go!" Sonny yells, and before Jason can say anything Clay is up and moving, leaving Jace with no choice but to follow and cover. They rush into the first of a series of alleys, meeting two armed men at the end. They're startled enough that is isn't much a problem, Sonny taking out both before much can happen. Unfortunately, their deaths alerting the rest of the men after them where they are.

They make it out of that alley, and are sprinting across the street to the next one, which takes them to another house that has people in it but that they use as a crossing to get to the less busy street. The vans are gone, having gotten out with Brock, Trent, and the asshole they were sent to retrieve.

Clay is lagging. The group know its, Spenser included, because Jason can tell how hard he's trying to keep up with the rest of them, but everyone can hear the sharp wheezing coming from the kid, and the way he keeps stumbling, how he can't keep his gun up.

It's not as huge as problem as it could be, because they know the exfil route like they know their rifles (which to say, very fucking well) and even with Clay moving as quickly as he can, they're out pacing and confusing the enemy. Jason would throw Spenser over his shoulder, but they literally cannot afford the two seconds it would take to stop and do so.

It comes to a head when they're maybe a third a klick from the exfil point.

They have to cross a street - a wide, sandy road that's got a few old cars parked and some trash bins and other rubble piled up in the gutters. They're darting across, Sonny and Ray in front, scanning, the narrow street they're intending to enter, when some of the taliban take a lucky turn, and Hayes is looking to his left to see five or so men with their AK's raising, firing, and Clay is next to him, blood spilling from his lips and staining his teeth and all Hayes can think of is that the kid cannot survive getting hit again.

So when they start shooting, and the bullets peck the sand at his feet, he dives sideways, pushing his body over Clays, and feels the impact of at least three bullets in his back before it all goes dark.

"Jason!" Ray yells, and Sonny is already moving, surging forward with a spray of gunfire that takes out the five men who had flooded the roadway. Ray is pulling Hayes body off of Spencer's, giving the Master Chief no time to even attempt to assert consciousness as he heaves him onto his shoulders.

"C'mon kid no quitin' now!" Sonny directs a sharp yell at the prone body still on the ground. Ray can see the whole left side of his chest is soaked in blood, and now the red liquid is staining his left arm and right shoulder, leaving Clay dazed at best. Sonny drags him upright regardless, and Toc is screaming at them over the radio urging the normally fast group to kick it into high gear. Ray grits his teeth and stands from his knees, his best friends body limp and a complete deadweight on his back.

"Sonny-" Ray pants, knowing he can't use both hands to hold his rifle, leaving him with his beretta (and even then it'd be tough to fire while moving and not lose Hayes). The other man is the only really operable gun they have, and he's got his hands full keeping the kid upright.

"I got it, just move! If we miss this exfil were dead." The Texan native responds, and pushes the kid forward. Ray has to hold his tongue to not say that they might be dead already. He doesn't even have a free second to key his radio and inform Toc of the situation. Clay stumbles but manages to run with the rest of them, dodging around the old cars and other debris littering the streets while they sprint towards the cities edge; gunfire spattering around them as they're literally chased out of Jbad.

The choppers are about to take off when the ragged group stumbles into the sandy clearing. Two of them do, rising off pretty quickly with Alpha team and Brock and Trent. They've risen to a safe distance by the time Ray and Sonny reach the third, the latter basically dragging Clay under arm, rifle hanging forgotten is favor for getting his teammate to the helicopter.

Ray just about catapults himself and Jason into the cabin, Sonny bodily lifting Clay to throw him inside. The engines fire up fast, and Ray can feel the helicopter start to rise. He quickly slides Jason off his back, sitting up and turn over to make sure that Sonny gets his ass into the cabin before they get to far off the ground. The normally wild man is sitting at the edge, firing off rounds along with the man sitting at the mounted machine gun. The massive burst in return fire makes their pursuers shrink back to cover behind the buildings, giving the helo enough time to get in the air and lift away from rpg range.

They're safe. For a small second, Ray allows himself to relax, and take a breath.

And then a sharp wheezing is heard under the sound of the blades turning, and that moment is over.

" _Shit!"_ Ray spits out, shuffling on his knees to get next to Clay. The curse draws Sonny, who pulls his legs in and scoots away from the open doorway.

Spencer is lying face down in the middle of the cabin, limbs splayed out from when Sonny threw him into the helicopter. He's whiter than a sheet, and leaning over Ray can see that while his eyes are open, they certainly aren't focusing on anything, pupils glassy and hazed; rolled back in his head so you can just barely make out then iris'.

"Clay!" Ray shakes his shoulder following the shout, but there's not reaction, and given the blood that's now staining the metal floor, he doesn't expect him one.

"Roll him towards you." He orders, knowing that they need to move fast if Clays going to make it base. Sonny nods, now on his knees opposite to Ray. It takes some effort and a bit of maneuvering, but they get him on his back. Once they do, the problem becomes pretty clear- his combat gear is covered with blood. A bullet missed all the equipment on his vest, creating a hole in the left of his chest that takes both Ray and Sonny to much effort to find because it's leaked so much blood there's no clear spot that would indicate a gsw. When they do find it, Sonny stacks his hands on it and leans all his weight into his arms. Ray checks his shoulder and finds not one but two bullets tore through his flesh, adding extra trauma and blood loss to his already taxed system.

Before he can put pressure on then two leaking holes, there's a gurgling sound that interrupts the short, sharp wheezes.

"Turn his head!" Ray yells, and Sonny once again complies. The action serves to let Clay expel the blood that was pooling his mouth rather than inhale it and drown.

He's losing so much blood- too much blood, and it makes Rays skin turn to ice at the thought of losing their youngest member. It's going to take time to get back to base, and then the get him to a doctor and get him more blood- it's too much, to much time when Clay might already be beyond help.

"Hey! Hey kid! Stay with me alright keep breathing." Sonny fists the bloody fatigues, shaking the younger man. Clays eyelids are at half mast now, fluttering with the danger of shutting. "Ray-"

Sonny's voice is almost pleading - or about as pleading as his voice can get.

"He's losing to much blood- his shoulder is- alright get behind him, try to put as much pressure as you can on his chest. I'll move your hands." Sonny just nods, quickly sitting and scooting back against a side of the helicopter. With the help of Ray, he pulls his injured colleague up against his chest, giving him a sort of hug around the back. Ray pushes his hands to the wound, and Sonny presses weight into his hands. This way at least they can maintain pursues without worrying about the kid asphyxiating in his blood.

"Check Hayes." Sonny rasps, and Ray leans over the side, not needing to be told twice.

There's a split second of pure terror that jumps on top of Rays fear for Clay, and he's unable to take a breath as he pressures two fingers to his best friends neck.

It takes a second, but he feels the pulse there, strong and steady.

"He good?" Sonny asks, and Ray can understand the tone of voice the other man holds. The desperation for reassurance that they won't lose two brothers today.

"They're all in the vest, he's just unconscious." Ray responds, leaning back towards Clay and pressing his hands against his shoulder. Spencer doesn't react to the pain, his head lolling back on Sonny's shoulder as he breathes, weak and strained.

Quinn is talking to him, telling him all these things, telling him to " _Stay awake, keep breathing, it's going to be okay kid, you're gonna be fine, don't think you can konk our still owing us beer_ ".

But Clays eyes are closed, a trickle of blood trailing from the corner of his slightly parted lips, and Ray knows Clays not there to hear it.

Clay stops breathing right as the touch down on base, and Sonny takes off running with the waiting gurney and medical staff the second they get him out of the helicopter. Jason is less urgent, and with Clays life no longer in his hands, Ray is awarded the opportunity to take care of his best friend.

The Master Chief is breathing steadily albeit shallowly, three bullets scrunched up in the spare mags that sit in the front of his vest. He's still unconscious, but Rays not to concerned. The medics are careful with his neck and head when they transfer him to a gurney, and let Ray follow as they walk calmly into the medical center. Ray gets to stay with him right up until they decide to take him for X-rays, and it's only about an hour before he's told that he can see him again.

They take him to a private room a few floors up, and tell him that he doesn't have a concussion or broken ribs, but to try and make him take it easy for a few weeks while his very bruised ribs and organs get back into working order.

Ray will be lucky if he can keep him off rotation for a day.

He sits in a chair next to Hayes' bed, staring at his blood soaked gloves instead of his friend laying in a hospital bed. They hooked him up to a heart monitor just a precaution until he wakes up, when he'll be mostly free to go as he pleases. Which means that he'll just go up to whatever floor or room Sonny is currently sitting in, waiting for news on Clay.

Ray sits. And waits. And keeps staring at the blood on his gloves, watching it occasionally drip off his fingers to join a small pool on the floor. He sits and stares and _thinks_ , he works through the events of the mission again and again and _again_. He replays the moment when Jace asked if everyone was okay there was empty space where Clays answer was supposed to be. He watches Hayes jump in front of Clay, watch the bullet impact his body, watching them both fall. He sifts through the blurry run to exfil, thinks about Sonny whispering " _not yet kid, not yet_ " to Clay as the sandy haired man's breathes slowly got slower and more labored.

He thinks about it so much that he almost drives himself into a hole or irrational reasoning (the what if's, the 'why didn't I just do _this_ instead').

He wants Jason to wake up. He wants Clay to be okay, and be able to come back from this. It's been about two months, but the kid has fit into the team almost the same way Nate did. He filled that hole, but shaped it in a new way, and now Ray knows the real reason Jason didn't want to bring him on. He told Ray it was because he was cocky, he was a true believer, that he didn't know. And Jay might've even believed that, but Ray can see how Jason looks at him, can see from the way that Clay looks up to him like a lost puppy does to it's found owner. Clay could easily be the one to replace Jason when he retires (and Ray is determined the make sure he lives to see that happen) and Jason _wants him to_. The way he teaches him, asks him about things, it isn't just training the new guy, it's testing him, seeing how he thinks and then showing him other options.

Jason Hayes was afraid to take him on the team, because then he'd care about him. And if something happened to Clay, then Jason was scared of what he'd have to go through again.

Daylight raid. Fucking _bullshit._

He checks phone one more time, not expecting anything from Sonny, and sure enough there's no notifications of any kind. He's caught with the notion to call Niama, but with the time difference, she's not awake. He doesn't want to bother her with this mess anyway, not when he's so exhausted.

Of course, right when he's about to fall asleep, that's when Hayes wakes up.

Jason comes up swinging, a yell and gasp and then a groan in pain because the idiot sat up on instinct with bunch of bruised ribs.

"Jesus christ." Ray breathes out, clutching the edges of his his chair and relaxing a bit, adrenaline from being startled into awareness thrumming through his veins. "Welcom back man."

When the first words out of his mouth are about Clay, Ray isn't surprised in the least. When Ray tells he's still in surgery and he starts moving like he's going to get up, he still isn't surprised, but he does try to stop it.

"No you're not going anywhere-" Jason ignores him, peeling off the leads and sitting up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

"I need to see him Ray." Hayes argues back, carefully picking out then IV, ignoring Ray telling him not to.

"No, you need to lay back down and relax, you took three in the back-"

"Clearly I had a vest on-" Jason snaps back, because he knows injured versus not, and his back and chest hurt like a bitch but not in the way that says there was three pieces of led put through it.

"You were unconscious!" Ray hisses. "Clay is still in surgery can you think about yourself for ten fucking minutes?!"

"He's my responsibility!" Jason yells, and slides to his feet with fake ease. "Where the fuck is he?"

"Jay just- God damn it Hayes stop fucking moving!" Ray snaps at the end, yelling sharp and angry at his long time friend. The tone is a rare one for the normally calm SEAL, and it makes Jason stop just short of the door.

"Can you just- _please_ , just sit down for a few seconds, so I can attempt to stop freaking out? Then I will take you to Clay, I promise." He says, and its much calmer but it takes a lot of effort.

Jason, for once in his life, actually listens. He does stare at Ray for a few seconds, looking incredulous, but plops back down on the bed anyway.

"Freaking out?" Hayes says after a beat of silence, and Clays blood is still drying on Rays gloves.

"Yeah. Yeah I've been sitting here for a few hours, staring at you, thinking of all the ways it could've gone wrong, could've been worse, which is really saying something since Spenser is upstairs getting four bullets taken out him."

"Listen, Ray, I get it okay-"

"I don't think you do." Rays hisses back. "You were unconscious- I didn't have time to check your pulse, never mind see if you were hit or not. I carried you out of there, and I didn't know if you were dying on my back, or if you were already dead. I could've been carrying your _body_ Jace."

"That's our job, Ray."

"Yeah, I know. I know it's what we do, but that kid is still here, still in surgery fighting for his life after running like two miles with four bullets in him. I've been sitting here for over five hours wondering if I have to help plan a funeral all while thinking that I almost had to be planning yours, so the _least_ you can do for me stick your ass back in that bed until a nurse releases you."

Jason spreads his hands out, gesturing to the fact that he is, in fact, in the bed. All their yelling must've also attracted attention, because like magic, a nurse shows up, orders Ray out of the room to check on Hayes, then clears him to be discharged.

Twenty minutes later and a shit ton of paperwork, Ray is leading Jason to the elevator that takes them to the upper level, where Sonny had texted him to meet. Trent and Brock are gone, but Davis is there having a conversation with texan, leaving right as they walk in. She's smiling though, and looks relieved.

"Oh look, sleeping beauty awakens." She quips as she walks by Hayes. "I'll let blackburn know he isn't losing any of his best team today." Her words make both of them relax, Ray's shoulder slumping as he walks up to Sonny who looks just as exhausted as he feels.

"What'd they say?" Hayes asks, and Quinn just ducks his head.

"Little shit is gonna be fine. Dealing with blood loss and the fact that the bullet nicked one of his lungs and broke a few ribs, but they said they just brought him to the ICU so…"

Ray thinks he might just about pass out from the lack of stress in his body.

"We can see him?" Jason asks, and Sonny smiles like he just did something to piss off Davis.

"I mean she said no visitors but I got the room number."

Ten minutes later finds the three SEALs curled in chairs around their youngest member, the lights dim, eyes closed, peacefully resting in the knowledge that they don't have to grieve another brother tonight.

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 **woo! hey drop any prompts for seal team you want in the review box, ill take them :D**


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